This morning we received an “e” mail sent by Rabbi Shalman entitled
“…current writings and musings.” This concluded with a horrifying
quotation from a resolution by the board of our congregation, Beth Zedek, to the
effect that another Jew, Charles Shalman, be treated like a pariah and that
members “refrain from engaging in conduct that would welcome or otherwise
encourage Rabbi Shalman to attend services.”

Such
a resolution presumes that those who drafted it are so pure and angelic that
they are entitled to sit in judgment on other Jews and are also entitled to
decide who may pray with us and who is not fit to do so. Such a rule invites
innumerable other members to “excommunicate” yet others of whom they do not
approve.

For example, a board member and
officer of our congregations not only designated us by a “four letter word”
but also shouted that my presence and that of my family “desecrated this
synagogue”. We were also told by this prominent “capo di tutti capi” that
we had desecrated “Kristallnacht”, the night of November 9-10, 1938 when we
witnessed the destruction and dynamiting of every synagogue in Germany, the
murder of Jews in the streets and other horrors too vile to recite here. The
person who made this claim was not there and yet has been authorized to insult
Holocaust survivors. Yet, this name caller is a board member and president of
the sisterhood.

Should
this individual also be ejected from Beth Tzedek?

Surely, once we eject one another, no one will be left. Numerous members believe
they have reason to dislike other members. Who then decides who may stay and who
is tossed out? Is there a “beth hamidrash” anywhere which is devoted to
excluding Jews from prayer there?

The
effort to exclude Rabbi Shalman has been instigated by a minuscule cadre of
self-appointed elitists. They and their insidious sycophants have seized the
congregation so as to promote a self-perpetuating oligarchy.This therefore leads toan
alternative status system within our congregation, thereby depriving us of the
benefits which a Jewish “beth el” ought to provide.

The
resolution by the board exhibits a vindictiveness utterly at odds with Jewish
principles. Furthermore, such a resolution, however deviant, should also include
the other party which provokedthe
complaints against Rabbi Shalman, although all such resolutions are indeed a
negation of our tradition and offensive to God.